Marketing Basics: Creating Your USP
Friday, June 12th, 2009
Creating a USP (unique selling point) for your business is essential to your success. Your USP is what separates you from the competition. It’s the main benefit that customers will enjoy if they do business with you. In short, it’s the thing that hooks customers in, keeping them from going to your competitors.
Unfortunately, a lot of the businesses I provide copy for don’t know what their USP is. It’s one of the first questions I ask them when outlining their copy. More times than not, the answer I get starts with “That’s a hard question to answer. It’s difficult to pinpoint one thing that makes us better than the competition. Hmmm…” Now, I’m not saying it’s a breeze to come up with a USP, but the simple truth is you better figure one out or else you’ll never gain any ground on your competition.
So, before we talk about how to create a USP for your business, let’s first identify what is NOT a good USP.
Examples of Poor USPs
• We provide great customer service—Every company says they care about you, the customer. It’s a hollow statement that carries no weight with the consumer.
• We’re #1 in our industry—Again, every company says they’re the best. It doesn’t provide a tangible benefit for the customer to grab onto.
(more…)
